Refrigerator



Dec. 23, 1941. F. s. FIELD 2, 66,857

REFRIGERATOR Filed July 19, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WIAWA v INVENTOR.

4 BY 1% j ATTORNEY.

Dec. 23, 1941.

F. s. FIELD 2,266,857

REFRIGERATOR Filed July 19, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 26 INVEN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 23, 1941 PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR Forrest 5. Field, Grafton, Pa.

Appflcation July 19,

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in refrigerators and its principal ob- Ject is to provide efiective means for reducing to a minimum the escape of cold air when the door is opened and yet will permit the necessary circulation of air within the refrigerator.

In the usual type of refrigerators employed for home use, the trays or other receptacles used for holding the foods are either constructed in the form of shelves made of wire or other suitable material, or are made in the form of baskets and are arranged within the refrigerator in such a manner that different sizes of provisions may be conveniently placed in the same.

One of the main objects of this invention is to provide individual shelves, trays or baskets, made of any suitable foraminous material, with a front of glass or other transparent material so that the contents of said receptacles may be seen before the receptacle is removed or opened.

Another object of the invention is to provide drawers, baskets or trays of foraminous material with a windowed front for each compartment instead of auxiliary doors.

Still another object of the invention is to provide each individual compartment with a receptacle made of foraminous material and having a windowed front in which the latter upon closure will serve as a means to materially obstruct the escape of cold air from the refrigerator and yet will allow the required circulation of air within the individual food compartments.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide shelves, drawers or baskets, as used for refrigerators, with a windowed front, which when closed will form a complete closure of' the interior cooling chamber of the refrigerator.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an electric refrigerator with foraminous receptacles having windowed fronts by means of which each individual compartment may be sealed against the outside atmosphere without the use of auxiliary doors usually secured to the interior of the refrigerator. 7

A further object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator with compartments having drawers, trays, baskets or other similar receptacles made of foraminous material by means of which access may be gained without exposing the entire cool ing chamber to the outside temperature thus maintaining a more even temperature within the compartments when removing one of said receptacles, which, of course means saving in the cost of electric current and wear of cooling mechanism.

1939, Serial N0. 285,321

Other objects of this invention are to provide a device of the class set forth which is simple in its construction and arrangements and eflicient in its use, readily installed, and inexpensive to manufacture.

To the accomplishment of these and such other objects as may hereafter appear the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications may be resorted to which come within the scope of the claim hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 shows a perspective general view of a refrigerator in which the novel invention is embodied.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a wire basket provided with a windowed front portion and hingedly attached to the interior of the refri erator body. V

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 in Fi ure Figure 4 is an enlarged front view of the slidin glass doors as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a top view of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is an isometric view of one of the drawers showing the windowed front portion thereof as used in this invention.

Figure 'I is a side view of Figure 6 showing in dot and dash lines the hinged window front lowered.

Figure 8 is a top view of Figure 7.

, Figure 9 is an enlarged detail view, with parts broken away, of the locking mechanism for the hinged window front on line 9--9 in Figure 6.

Figure 10 is a front view of Figure 9. In the embodiment disclosed, l5 designates a refrigerator of any desired well known construction and includes a food storing chamber i6 which may be opened or closed by the conventional heavy door H. The refrigerator mechanism is indicated by the numeral l8 but not detailed or shown, and in this case is located in the lower portion of the food storing chamber it, while the usual cooling member I9 also not detailed is located in the upper portion, as indicated.

. The food storing chamber or cooling chamber I6 is divided into a plurality of compartments 20, and for illustrating purposes I have shown compartments provided with drawers 2|, a winging basket 22 and a sliding door arrangement 23.

Referring now to Figures 1, 6 to 10 inclusive, the drawer 2|, which may be of any suitable size and shape, comprises a bottom 24, the two side portions 25, the rear portion 26 and the hinged windowed front portion 21, In order to assure a perfect circulation of the cold air, the receptacles 2|, 22 and 23 are preferably made of mesh wire or similar foraminous material. The bottom side edges 28 of said drawer 2| are provided with angle irons 29 secured to the side portions 25 by spot welding or otherwise, which carry a series of rollers 30, mounted in a manner as shown, or otherwise, rolling upon frame-rails 3| (Figure '7) of chamber IS. The front portion 21 of said drawer 2| i shown provided with a U- shaped frame 32 made of angle iron on which is hingedly secured the front-frame 33 also partly made of angle iron.

It will be noted, that the U-shaped frame 32 is open at the upper portion so as to make the drawer more readily accessible at the front when inserting or removing foods.

As shown in Figures 6 and '1, the U-shaped frame 32 is shown continued by means of a horizontally disposed cross-strip 32, extending the full width of said U-shaped frame 32 but is actually part of the front-frame 33 so as to form a .complete flange 33 which serves as a sealing member when the drawers are in closed position. Front-frame 33 is provided with a knob-lock 34 shown and detailed in Figures 9 and 10 and it comprises a pin-shaft 35 on which is secured at the exposed end a knob 36 and at the inner end a disc or strip 31 which has a pair of oppositely spaced apertures 38, each adapted to receive one end of a rod 39 which is formed into a loop 40. The other end 4| of said rod 39 penetrates through aligned apertures 42 of U-frame 32 and front-frame 33.

A flanged guide bushing 43 is welded or otherwise secured to the inner face of said front frame 33 serving as a means to guide the rod 39, especially when the end 4| of the latter has been withdrawn from the aperture 42 of U-frame 32 as indicated in dot and dash lines in Figure 10. A coil spring 44 is placed around the pin-shaft 35 with one end secured to the disc or strip 31 and the other end to the front-frame 33 so that the end 4| of rod 39 is normally in aperture 42 of U-frame 32.

A glass panel 45 or other'suitable transparent material closes the opening in the angular frontframe 33 so that the contents of the drawers 2| may be readily observed therethrough when the drawers are closed.

In Figures 1, 2 and 3 there is illustrated a type of basket 22 which is adaptable for use in my improved refrigerator and which may be removably and hlngedly secured to the side wall of the refrigerator body by the hinge connection 41. Said receptacle or basket 22 may be constructed of wire mesh or any suitable foraminous material and the same is provided with a windowed front portion 48, which may be hinged or stationary. The said basket 22 may be readily swung open by turning the spring knob 49 of well known design. By lifting said basket out of the hinges 41 the basket may be removed from the refrigerator.

It will be noted, that the said basket 22 utilizes only the front portion of the compartment, while the rear part thereof is provided with a wire shelf 50.

In Figures 4 and 5 there are illustrated enlarged views of glass sliding doors also shown assembled in Figure 1. These sliding doors 23 are preferably made in two halves 5| and 52 which are slidably mounted in U-shaped guide-rails 53.

When the drawer 2|, swinging basket 22 and sliding doors 23 are closed, it will be evident that the cool air can circulate freely through all compartments, at the same time, the contents of each individual compartment may be readily observed through the glass fronts, thus, when the main door I1 is opened to remove or store foods all the compartments are exposed to view, but none is exposed to warm air until the individual drawer or basket is opened.

While I have illustrated and described my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the structural details so illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which fall within the terms employed in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claim.

I claim:

A food container for a refrigerator comprising a body formed of woven wire and open at its top and front end, a frame for the open front end of said body open at its top and having a lower cross bar secured along the front edge of the bottom of the body and side bars secured along front edges of side walls of the body, said bars having marginal portions projecting from the body to provide outstanding abutment flanges for the body, a door hinged along its lower edge to the lower cross bar for swinging movement from a raised position for closing the front end of the body to a lowered open position, an upper strip for the door having end portions projecting from opposite sides of the door for extending across upper ends of the side bars of said frame when the door is closed, and a handle carried by the lower bar of the frame and projecting outwardly therefrom and as a support for the door when the door is swung downwardly to an opened position.

FORREST S. FIELD. 

